RNA therapy for heart failure and organ fibrosis_Fraunhofer Representative Office Beijing

To better understand the molecular signaling pathways in healthy and diseased hearts, researchers are analyzing non-coding miRNAs using real-time PCR. This can be used to identify disease-related miRNA, such as miRNA 132.

RNA has already been making an impact in the context of the vaccine program, but the potential of RNA-based compounds is far from being fully tapped, as RNA allows for entirely new therapeutic approaches. Prof. Thomas Thum, Co-Institute Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, has developed a form of RNA therapy for treating heart failure, which has already been successfully tested in patients as part of a phase 1b clinical trial. Other RNA therapies are currently being developed to treat pulmonary fibrosis and other forms of organ fibrosis.

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